


Party Banter With Asala Adaar

by NorroenDyrd



Series: Dadquisition [3]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Banter, Dialogue-Only, Dragon Age Quest: In Hushed Whispers, Dragon Age Quest: The Last Resort of Good Men, Elf-Blooded Adaar, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Half-Elves, Helpful Cole, Helpful Cole (Dragon Age), Inquisitor Backstory, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Party Banter, Post-Demands of the Qun, Post-Demands of the Qun (Inquisition), Protectiveness, Qunari, Qunari Children, Self-Discovery, Sera Being Sera, Single Parents, Teasing, Teenagers, supportive friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 14:46:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10664856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorroenDyrd/pseuds/NorroenDyrd
Summary: What the party banter would have looked like if the Inquisitor's teenage daughter, Asala, accompanied the gang on missions.





	Party Banter With Asala Adaar

***  
  
 **Asala** : So you’re like the Qunari-Qunari, are you? All right and proper?  
  
 **Bull** : [chuckles] Oh, I am seldom proper, kid. But yes, I follow the Qun.  
  
 **Asala** : You know, my Da’s not that different from you.  
  
 **Bull** : [grunts disapprovingly]  
  
 **Asala** : No, but you see: you’d think he’d be able to do anything he wants without you Bennies watching over him? Well, nah! With a face and horns like those, you can only be a merc, and nothing else! It’s like a role - only instead of the Qun, it’s assigned to you by humans, and you can never escape! You can’t be an artist, or a baker, or a tailor… Did you know that my Da is actually great at making lace? He…  
  
 **Taashath** : Asala!  
  
 **Asala** : Fine, fine… Shutting up.  
  
 **Bull** : [thoughtfully to himself] Bennies…  
  
***  
  
 **Cassandra** : When I was your age, I had already spent many years training as a Seeker.  
  
 **Asala** : Is that why you are so uptight? Jealous that I get to have fun and you didn’t?  
  
 **Cassandra** : [disgusted noise] My point is that you could at least try learning to be more disciplined. Your father worries about you; it… it distracts him from his duties.  
  
 **Asala** : Yeah, well, so do you, but you don’t see me prattling to you about discipline, yeah?  
  
 **Varric (if in party)** : Hah! Good retort, Braids!  
  
 **Cassandra** : I… I don’t know what you mean… How could I possibly…  
  
 **Asala** : Go discipline your cheekbones, Lady Seeker. They are too distracting.  
  
***  
  
 **Vivienne** : If I were you, my dear, I’d spend less time around that Sera character.  
  
 **Sera (if in party)** : She’s not a baby, yeah? She can pick whatever friends she likes, with no help from bossy bitches like you!  
  
 **Vivienne** : All those… unseemly pranks, races around the keep in the middle of the night - and you are picking up some of her mannerisms, too! That is quite unbecoming for the Inquisitor’s daughter.  
  
 **Asala** : But I swear I saw you smile when I did that thing to Cullen!  
  
 **Vivienne** : It was… mildly amusing, yes - but that is not my point, darling.  
  
 **(If Sera is in party) Asala and Sera together** : No breeches!  
  
***  
  
 **Asala** : Hey, can I poke you for a moment?  
  
 **Solas** : Not in the literal sense, I hope?  
  
 **Sera (if in party)** : Aww look, Master Egghead is still upset about the tadpoles in his mug!  
  
 **Asala** : No… I just thought you might look at this for me. It’s, um, a bracelet - but I can’t put it on cuz my wrists are too big, so I wear it on a chain like an amulet of sorts. It belonged to my mother.  
  
 **Solas** : It has… Elvhen writing on it.  
  
 **Asala** : Sure it does! My mother was an elf!  
  
 **Sera (if in party)** : Eww, I knew you were part elfy, but I never figured you’d be hold-on-to-weird-junk sorta elfy!  
  
Solas: And I suppose you want me to translate it for you? Very well. I shall examine it when we are in a quieter place.  
  
***  
  
 **Sera (if she was in party during the previous banter)** : Hey, ‘bout last time. I… I sorta take it back and all. You are all right, even with the elfy junk bits!  
  
 **Taashath** : You make it sound like she should be ashamed of her mother!  
  
 **Sera** : Whoah, don’t go all red-eyed on me!  
  
 **Asala** : Da, she didn’t mean anything by it.  
  
 **Sera** : Sure I did! I meant s'all good!  
  
 **Taashath** : Hmph. All the same, think before you talk next time.  
  
 **Vivienne (if in party)** : Sometimes you are impossibly demanding, my dear.  
  
***  
  
 **Solas** : That inscription on your mother’s bracelet - it is a prayer to Mythal. I translated the whole text and sent my notes up to your quarters.  
  
 **Asala** : Oh, thanks Egg… I mean Solas. After all these years, we’ll finally know what it means! Even my mother herself could only make out a couple of words. Right, Da?  
  
 **Taashath** : Yes. Most of the folks in Liliel’s alienage could barely read common, let alone the language of the ancient elves.  
  
 **Solas** : That is… Most unfortunate.  
  
 **Sera (if in party)** : Ya know what’s unfortunate? Going this long without food! I think I’ll go shoot a ram or somethin’.  
  
***  
  
 **Asala** : You know, Blackwall, the way you go on, I could make a sport of dangling off a cliff to see who runs faster to catch me, you or Da.  
  
 **Taashath** : Don’t even think about it!  
  
 **Blackwall** : Your safety is not a joking matter!  
  
 **Asala** : Ugh, why do you never loosen up around me? Is it something about my face? My voice? Me being taller than you?  
  
 **Blackwall** : You are the Inquisitor’s child. My first duty is to protect you.  
  
 **Asala** : This child is seven-bloody-teen years old, thank you very much.  
  
 **Blackwall** : I thought your father said you had only turned sixteen recently.  
  
 **Asala** : I’ll get back on that when you’re less boring.  
  
***  
  
 **Asala** : Hey Bull, are there singers under the Qun? Or writers?  
  
 **Bull** : That what you wanna be, kid?  
  
 **Asala** : Yeah, kinda… But have you ever seen a Vashoth singer anywhere?  
  
 **Bull** : Can’t say I have. Unless you count drunken singing in taverns.  
  
 **Asala** : Do you think the Qunari Tama… things would have picked the right role for me? The role that matches what I wanna do with my life?  
  
 **Taashath** : Don’t put any ideas into her head, Bull!  
  
 **Bull** : Wasn’t going to, boss. Like I said, the Qun is not for everyone. That teenage rebellion thing your kid likes doing - probably wouldn’t end well.  
  
***  
  
 **Varric** : These poems you write, Braids - they are pretty good.  
  
 **Asala** : Wow, really?  
  
 **Varric** : You actually make the words rhyme without making the whole thing seem like one of those grating kiddy songs.  
  
 **Asala** : Hah, I don’t suppose there are too many kiddy songs about gravestones and doomed lovers and such.  
  
 **Taashath** : About that… I could never get why you have to make all your stuff so dark!  
  
 **Varric** : She’s a teenager, Floofy. Writing dark poetry is part of her job description. But unlike some teenagers, she is actually good at it.  
  
***  
  
 **Cassandra** : I… I happened to be passing by when Varric was looking at your last poem, and accidentally glanced over his shoulder.  
  
 **Asala** : Oh? So now you’re gonna tell me that poetry’s undisciplined too?  
  
 **Cassandra** : No, I just… Why did that woman’s husband have to die?  
  
 **Asala** : So she’d mourn him and break the reader’s heart?  
  
 **Varric (if in party)** : Don’t bother, Braids. The Seeker only accepts happily-ever-afters.  
  
 **Cassandra** : That is… the most ludicrous reasoning I ever heard! Besides, she had plenty of opportunity to come to his aid in that battle! If she had flanked the enemies that he had engaged…  
  
 **Asala** : She isn’t based on you, you know. Because that would mean her hubby’s based on Da, and I can’t kill off my own father!  
  
 **Cassandra** : [disgusted noise]  
  
***  
  
 **Dorian** : I hear you made quite a scene at the execution site.  
  
 **Asala** : Hah, I sure did! Shame you weren’t there to see it!  
  
 **Dorian** : I deemed drinking myself witless to be a far more pleasant pastime than watching your father cut off my former mentor’s head.  
  
 **Taashath** : Dorian, we’ve been over this.  
  
 **Dorian** : With you, yes. But not with the girl. She deserves a personal thank you for standing up to a certain valiant leader.  
  
 **Asala** : I am great at that. Years of practice.  
  
(Some time later)  
  
 **Dorian** : I wonder… What exactly did you say to change his mind?  
  
 **Asala** : Well, Da ranted on and on about how your hooded friend turned me into a dead chunk of red lyrium in the bad future, and how hurt and angry he was. And I said, 'So now you know how he is feeling!’. And then Da made this droopy face he is making now and…  
  
 **Taashath** : Will you two please change the subject?  
  
 **Dorian** : Very well. Pray tell me, young Asala, what are your sentiments towards grapes?  
  
***  
  
 **Cole** : Flowing, rhythmic patterns, cryptic but beautiful, how does he do it? You… You really like the way I talk?  
  
 **Asala** : Of course I do! It’s like you’re brimming over with poetry all the time!  
  
 **Cole** : I just try to sort through things I hear. It’s hard sometimes, when people are so solid and are hurting too loudly. I… may not make a lot of sense.  
  
 **Asala** : Hey, I don’t make a lot of sense either! We can start a club!  
  
***  
  
 **Blackwall** : And then he said: but at least the turkey still has its tail!  
  
 **Asala** : Hah, finally! I knew you were not completely hopeless! What a great un-boring story!  
  
 **Blackwall** : It’s from my old army days.  
  
 **Asala** : Huh, I thought army humour would be dirtier.  
  
 **Blackwall** : It is. I had to censor it somewhat so your father wouldn’t kill me.  
  
(Some time later)  
  
 **Asala** : What about Grey Warden humour? Is it dirty too?  
  
 **Blackwall** : Well… The thing is, by the time I joined the Wardens, I had lost some of my boyish penchant for amusing tales.  
  
 **Asala** : Too bad… Well, army humour it is, then! Do I get to hear the uncensored version when I turn eighteen?  
  
 **Taashath** : Asala!  
  
***  
  
(After the cutscene where Dorian tells Taashath that Felix died)  
  
 **Dorian** : It was you, wasn’t it?  
  
 **Asala** : Salt sprinkles on Josie’s chocolate? Yeah, it was me. But I only added a little!  
  
 **Dorian** : No, I mean that poem on Alexius’ desk. The one about the man who planted a tree and then, when it withered, remembered how he had sat in its shade? He told me about it this morning.  
  
 **Asala** : I have no idea what you’re talking about! Trees! Shade! I’d never write such sappy nonsense!  
  
 **Dorian** : You brought the man who almost destroyed the world to the verge of tears. That is quite an accomplishment, young lady - and I say that as an incredibly accomplished person myself.  
  
***  
  
 **Asala** : So… You and Da - did you do the bnb thing or what?  
  
 **Cassandra** : Bnb? What manner of teenage jargon is this?  
  
 **Asala** : Oh, you know… Birds and bees.  
  
 **Cassandra** : Birds and… Oh! Oh, I see!  
  
 **Taashath** : Asala, leave the Lady Seeker alone!  
  
 **Asala** : Still Lady Seeker, huh? So I guess you didn’t do it… What’s stopping you? I mean, you have the hots for each other - it’s sooo obvious!  
  
 **Taashath** : Asala, stop this - or so help me, when we return to Skyhold, you’re grounded!  
  
***  
  
 **Cole** : Woke up from a nightmare again. Demons, calling, clawing, constricting; Uldred’s eyes, bottomlessly black, suddenly not two but a dozen; Meredith bathed in crimson. And then - soft, soothing, shimmering, rainbows dancing over his bed. It had been so long since he started the morning with a smile.  
  
 **Taashath** : What are you talking about, Cole?  
  
 **Asala** : We put shards of coloured glass into the holes in Cullen’s ceiling. Now they both protect him from the rain and give off pretty light!  
  
 **Taashath** : Wait, have you been climbing the roof?  
  
 **Cole** : She didn’t fall. She didn’t die. Today is another day when she didn’t die.  
  
 **Asala** : Yeah… Thanks for this cheery thought, Cole.  
  
 **Cole** : It wasn’t me. It was your father.  
  
***  
  
 **Dorian** : The books I ordered from Tevinter have finally arrived.  
  
 **Asala** : Does this mean you’ll give me a lesson tonight?  
  
 **Dorian** : Of course. You already have those Orlesian volumes, don’t you? Southern historians are biased against Tevinter; our historians are biased against the rest of the world… It will be educational to pit them against one another.  
  
 **Asala** : And fun!  
  
 **Taashath** : Wait, did my daughter just call learning fun?  
  
 **Dorian** : Why the tone of surprise? What did you try to teach her?  
  
 **Taashath** : How to run a merc company.  
  
 **Dorian** : Well, there you have it!  
  
***  
  
 **Asala** : Um, Cassandra… If you hesitate about Da because of me - please don’t.  
  
 **Cassandra** : Because of you?  
  
 **Asala** : Yeah, like… If you worry that I’ll hate you for stealing him and replacing my mother and all.  
  
 **Cassandra** : Nothing could be further from my mind! Even if my relationship with the Inquisitor wasn’t strictly professional!  
  
 **Asal** a: Well, in case it ever stops being 'strictly professional’ - I don’t even remember my mother. Da raised me alone. And I actually think it’d be good for him to have someone in his life. Take care of the stupid old fella and all.  
  
 **Taashath** : I heard that!  
  
***  
  
(After Taashath saves the Chargers)  
  
 **Asala** : Hey, Bull… Don’t look so glum! Remember that time you said the Qun isn’t for everyone? Maybe it wasn’t for you too. It just took you this long to figure out.  
  
 **Bull** : Hmph. And what do you suppose is for me then?  
  
 **Asala** : Maryden put some of my poems to music. She’ll be singing them tonight at the tavern. Krem will come, and the other Chargers. I think if you come too, you’ll understand what is for you.  
  
 **Bull** : Huh, I think you spend too much time round Cole. That cryptic shit is beginning to rub off.  
  
 **Taashath** : Bull, what did I tell you?  
  
 **Bull** : Oh, right, boss - don’t swear in front of the kid! Fuck, I’m sorry!  
  
***  
  
(After Revelations)  
  
 **Asala** : You know, it’s kinda funny.  
  
 **Blackwall** : What is?  
  
 **Asala** : I heard stories about the Grey Wardens plenty of times when I was a kid, with the Blight having recently ended and all. And when I met you, you were just like I imagined the Grey Wardens should be.  
  
 **Blackwall** : And now… I have disappointed you.  
  
 **Asala** : What? No! The Grey Wardens are gonna disappoint me from now on, if they don’t pull off all this amazing noble-warrior-atoning-for-his-past stuff!  
  
 **Blackwall** : You… You don’t know the whole story, do you?  
  
 **Asala** : I know enough to believe that you deserve sticking around with our Inquisition. And you can always tell me the uncensored version when I am eighteen, right?  
  
***  
  
 **Cassandra** : Are you feeling better now? Have you asked Vivienne for a potion?  
  
 **(If Vivienne is in party) Vivienne** : She has indeed, my dear. But such things are generally not discussed in public.  
  
 **(Otherwise) Asala** : Sure! But do we… do we have to discuss my darkspawn week in front of everyone?  
  
 **Cassandra** : I just wanted to make sure you were all right.  
  
 **Asala** : Aww, thanks, mom.  
  
 **Cassandra** : You do not have to call me ’m'am’.  
  
 **Asala** : I wasn’t.  
  
***  
  
(After Last Resort of Good Men)  
  
 **Asala** : Damn, Dorian.  
  
 **Dorian** : Was that expletive a sign of admiration for my good looks?  
  
 **Asala** : I mean… My Da yells at me sometimes, and tries to punish me when I mess up… And this makes me think that he is the meanest person in the world… But it’s nothing like what you went through, is it?  
  
 **Dorian** : Oh, there were plenty of temper tantrums on my part too.  
  
 **Asala** : And for good reason! Me, I’m just a selfish teenager who wants attention - but you… You are amazing and you deserve better!  
  
 **Dorian** : You are not exactly worthless yourself, young lady.  
  
***  
  
(After Bring Me the Heart of Snow White)  
  
 **Vivienne** : Bastien’s family shall be holding a musical salon as a tribute to both himself and his wife. I would very much like it if you attended, my dear.  
  
 **Asala** : Whaa- ? Really?  
  
 **Vivienne** : If your father gives you permission, of course. You have such a wonderful singing voice; it is wasted in the courtyards and bath houses of Skyhold.  
  
 **Asala** : But… Won’t they be scared of me being… me? Unless you give me a mask to wear, I suppose.  
  
 **Vivienne** : It will be a half-face mask only; otherwise how would you sing?  
  
 **Asala** : Oh.  
  
 **Vivienne** : Being who you are ought to be a source of strength, not weakness. Always remember that, darling.


End file.
